FANS of Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines will be in for a treat in Blackpool next Monday as the resort celebrates the early days of flight.
Blackpool Airport marks the 95th anniversary of its first ever flights with a spectacular recreation of the massive airshow which first saw planes taking off at Squires Gate.
Next Monday, microlights built in the style of the flimsy 1909 machines will (weather permitting) take to the skies above the resort for the event.
Crowds of 200,000 people flocked to the airport for the first ever air-show, a six day event which started on October 18 1909 and featured top fliers from England, France and Italy. High winds and rain grounded most of the fliers, but the crowds still paid between one and 10 shillings to witness the new phenomenon, even paying another shelter to look at the grounded planes in the hangers.
Prizes were awarded to Henry Farman, who took £2,000 for the longest flight, a mere 47 miles while a Frenchman achieved an altitude of 2,500ft and another flier recorded speeds of 70 miles per hour.
The event had been organised after Blackpool Mayor, Alderman Thomas Bickerstaffe, had witnessed France's 'Flying Week of Champagne' in Rheims.
But the event attracted complaints from seafront traders who claimed their business had been damaged by the exodus to Squires Gate.
Paul Whelan, executive chairman of airport owners, City Hoppers International, said: "As the owners of the oldest airport in the country it is proper that we should celebrate the very first days of flight in this country and we are sure that a commemorative procession of these strange looking aircraft, low in the skies over Blackpool, will attract a lot of attention.
"At Blackpool's 1909 flying exhibition no-one can have visualized how aviation would develop and how important it would become to people all over the world.
"The men who took off from Blackpool 95 years ago were extremely brave, highly skilled engineers and designers who would play a hugely important role in the development of flying."
Monday's events kick off at around 12.30pm.
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